China Ends One-Child Per Couple Policy

China has ended its one-child policy and will allow all couples to have
two children.This is driven by fears that an aging population could
jeopardize the country's economic ascent and put too much pressure on
the aged. The Communist Party leadership ended its decades-old
“one child” policy on Thursday, announcing that all married couples
would be allowed to have two children.

The
one -child policy was imposed by Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader in
late 1979 and couples who break the family planning laws face
losing their jobs and being fined. In some cases, mothers have been
forced to abort their babies or be sterilized.

According to the National Health and Family
Planning Commission, which enforces the policy,

Abolishing the one-child policy would “increase labor supply and ease
pressures from an aging population,”“This will benefit sustained and healthy economic development,” the commission said.